On top of myriad safety worries, Izumida was furious at TEPCO’s blatant failure to obtain local permission before forging ahead with the application process. “There is no greater disregard for local people than this. It is an act to completely destroy a relationship…who could trust such a company?” he asked. “TEPCO’s plan to file an application without fulfilling its responsibilities will never gain the understanding of the public. The utility has failed to provide any explanation to the local community,” he added. Izumida is not alone in his frustration. Keiko Hashimoto, who heads an anti-nuclear group, said, “TEPCO is desperate to reactivate the plant in order to meet its managerial requirements. We’d like Governor Izumida to make a judgment while giving first priority to the safety of prefectural residents.” A majority of Niigata residents have expressed opposition to nuclear power, according to an Asahi Shimbun poll conducted late last year.

TEPCO’s President, Naomi Hirose, has promised to meet with Izumida “as early as possible,” but convincing the governor to grant approval will be nearly impossible without determining the causes of the Fukushima disaster. That task could take years because radiation levels there remain astronomically high, and humans cannot enter the crippled reactors to figure out why the meltdowns occurred. However, the utility is in a very bad position right now: as a result of mounting costs for decontamination, compensation to victims of the nuclear crisis, and costs of decommissioning the damaged reactors, TEPCO has posted significant losses over the past two fiscal years. In fiscal 2012 alone, the company posted a loss of 377.6 billion yen. If it does so a third time (for the fiscal year ending in March 2014), banks have said that they may stop backing TEPCO’s loans. Hirose has been blunt about the fact that the company’s financial concerns, rather than residents’ safety or the right of local government to determine which businesses will operate in its backyard, are TEPCO’s primary focus. “It will be impossible for our business to turn a profit if we cannot restart the reactors,” he said at a press conference this week.

TEPCO submitted a business plan to the government last year which was dependent on restarting the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors this April, but those hopes were dashed when the NRA said it would not even begin accepting applications for restart until July (that process will begin on Monday.) NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka has said that the process of assessing each reactor could take up to six months, meaning that the TEPCO could not resume operations at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa until January 2014 at the earliest.

But experts continue to question whether or not the NRA will approve the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa restarts at all. Reactors #6 and #7 are advanced boiling water reactors (ABWRs). Under the NRA’s new regulations, all BWRs are required to have filtered vents installed in order to prevent massive amounts of radiation from being released into the atmosphere after a nuclear accident, as happened at Fukushima. Installing those vents normally takes years, but TEPCO did the work itself, rather than hiring a subcontractor that specializes in doing so, in order to save time. It has promised that the process will be completed by the end of this month. In addition, TEPCO’s own research shows that almost all of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa reactors—including #6 and #7—lie on faults that are considered active under the NRA’s newly tightened definition. Operating a nuclear reactor atop of an active fault line is illegal in Japan.

State of the Fukushima Reactors

The International Atomic Energy Agency is calling the Fukushima Daiichi power plant a “blueprint” for terrorists. The assessment came during an international meeting on prevention of nuclear terrorism that was attended by 1,300 diplomats and experts on security and nuclear issues. “Fukushima sent a message to terrorists that if you manage to cause a nuclear power plant to melt down, that really causes major panic and disruption in society. All you need to do that is to cut off power for an extended period of time,” noted Matthew Bunn, a former White House advisor. Shinichi Suzuki, an official at TEPCO, agreed, saying, “[Fukushima] has provided a number of findings and lessons that are also useful for preparations for an incident caused by human hand, such as a terrorist attack at a nuclear power station.” The world is currently storing 2 million kilograms of nuclear materials left over from nuclear power plants and decommissioned bombs. It’s enough to make 100,000 new nuclear weapons. IAEA members have pledged to secure nuclear materials at both power plants and weapons facilities by 2014.

It is not surprising that TEPCO puts profits ahead of the populations health and welfare. Broken promises are the norm in this industry. I am totatlly...

It is not surprising that TEPCO puts profits ahead of the populations health and welfare. Broken promises are the norm in this industry. I am totatlly amazed at the amount of information and updates published. Your research is second to none. Thank you Ms. McCann and Greenpeace for keeping us all informed. I really can't imagine what shape the world would be in without your great organization.

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(Unregistered) Beppe
says:

Tepco built the vents filters by itself??? In order to save time??? Faster than a specialized vendor???
Tepco outsources most of the work so the...

Tepco built the vents filters by itself??? In order to save time??? Faster than a specialized vendor???
Tepco outsources most of the work so the news is kind of hard to believe in the first place. Furthermore vent filters are not like car air filters, which you can install yourself using a screwdriver; they are pieces of equipment several meters large and cost millions of dollars...

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(Unregistered) Christine McCann
says:

Special thanks to all of our readers, but especially those who take the time to regularly comment. We read each one of them, and appreciate your inter...

Special thanks to all of our readers, but especially those who take the time to regularly comment. We read each one of them, and appreciate your interest in this ongoing crisis.

Beppe, it does seem hard to believe about the filtered vents, but it's true. Here's more information on the issue, from an April article in The Japan Times. You are, however, probably right that the actual installation is being done by TEPCO's own contractors or subcontractors, as is much of the work around the plant these days.

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(Unregistered) Beppe
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Christine,
thank you for posting the link and also for writing this blog on a regular basis.

According to the cited article Tepco will build those filter faster and cheaper than an experienced contructor. Given these premises, and considering Tepco track record, it is very hard not to be afraid that the filters will be of substandard quality.

After all Tepco is already renown for using diapers to stop radiation leaks and for building "underground tanks" that are little more than a ditch (and hence soon start leaking).